World Vote Now

Is it possible to organize a worldwide referendum, applying the principle of "one person, one vote" to create a global democracy?  Filmmaker Joel Marsden went in search of the answer to this question in this provocative new documentary.

In order to achieve this lofty goal, Marsden first seeks to discover how elections are handled globally by visiting and witnessing (or attempting to witness) the democratic process in 26 countries.  He sees how voting proceeds in the remote Indian province of Kashmir.  He charges along through China, Japan, and South Korea.  In Iran, religion comes before democracy.  If there were free elections in Egypt, the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood would win.  Realistically speaking, Brazilian democracy ends where the asphalt ends.  And in Venezuela, Marsden sees President Chavez admit to losing a referendum - now that's democracy!  On his visit to the United Nations, he is surprised to encounter broad enthusiasm for his idea of a worldwide referendum.

Armed with this newfound knowledge, Marsden decides to stage a mock referendum with a cheap homemade satellite voting machine.  He engages all manner of citizens to decide on the referendum’s topic, and endeavours to execute this test in a remote village in Africa whose citizens have never even seen a voting machine, much less actually participated in an electoral process.  Does it work?  Can a world vote really be held?  Throughout his film, Marsden intercuts his quest with portraits of regular people from various countries to emphasize what democracy is ultimately about: all votes are of equal value.  US Premiere.